Improvement in heel-stiffeners



w. F. SPINNEY,

H eeI-Stifi'e ner.

PatentedJuly 27,1875.

N0; l65,96l.

Wi'iII'IESSIEEL NPEIERS, FHOTO-LITHOGRAPNER, WASHINGTON D c and unitedunder pressure.

ilmmnnir '1: runs.

ATENTT' rich;

IM PROVEM ENT IN HEEL-STlFFENERS;

Specification forming part ofLetters Patent No. 165,961, dated July 27,1875; application filed June 14, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. SPINNEY, of Uhelsea, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inHeel-Stiffeners, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to heel-stiffeners for boots and shoes; andconsists of a stiffener formed of a compound of rubber, sulphur, andpalm -oil, with or without rosin, tar, or rosin-oil, and containedbetween two pieces of muslin, cotton cloth, or other compact fabric.

Prior to my invention, heel-stiffeners have been made of a compound ormixture of old rubber, linseed-oil, manganese, and sulphur, placedbetween layers of coarse textile fabric, Such stiffeners are foundobjectionable, because the linseedoil, as well as the manganese, tendsto make the compound in which they enter hard. The linseed-oil dries outquickly and leaves the compound without elasticity, and with butlittlecohesion or tenacity, and in such dry state the stiifeners are easilybroken down. Further, these stiffeners have been faced with a verycoarse and bungling cloth, one not sutficiently compact to furnish ahold for the pegs, nails, or stitches passing through thestiifener-liange, and the flange is therefore easily raveled or brokenout, and this compound has so little cohesion that it will not adhere toa smooth-faced muslinor cotton cloth, but has to be crowded or embeddedinto the interstices of the coarse cloth.

The object of this invention is to produce a stiffening the body ofwhich, while it is composed chiefly of old rubber, shall be sufficientlyadhesive and cohesive to unite with a fine or closely-woven muslin orcotton fabric. The fabric receives the pegs, nails, or stitches, andaffords a holding-surface to assist in keeping the stifiener in place.

Figure 1 is a side view of my improved stifiener. Fig. 2 is a bottomview, and Fig. 3 a section. Fig. at is a side view of the stili'ener asit comes from the mold, and before its upper edges are trimmed.

This stiffener is composed of waste rubber, obtained chiefly by grindingup old rubber boots and shoes. Prior to grinding, these boots and shoesare usually steamed for two or three days, and after they are groundbetween the usual rolls, there is added, to every forty pounds of groundrubber, about twenty pounds of the trimmings from other stiffeners,three pounds of flour of sulphur, and two pounds of palm-oil, and, afteragain grinding the mixture, it is passed through calenders, which formthe compound or mixture into sheets, from which the blanks for theinteriors of the stiffeners are cut.

Instead of steaming the old rubbers. they maybe ground and mixed asbefore described, and then have added to the mixture a portion of tar,rosin, or rosin-oil, and, after being thoroughly incorporated, themixture may be rolled into sheets. The tar, rosin, or rosinoil takes theplace of steaming, and serves as a vehicle to cause the old and groundrubber to form a mixture which shall be sufficiently tenacious to berolled into a sheet, and with either mixture, if desired to make thesheet more elastic and sticky, some new rubber-a small quantity-may beadded. The cotton or other cloth for the outer portions of the stiffeneris run through the calenders with a thin sheet of this rubber compoundspread thereon, and the two are incorporated together under press ure,and caused to adhere the one to the other; then it is cut into piecessuitable for stifi'enings. Each stiffener consists of an internal blankcut from the sheet of rubber compound described, and two external blankscut from the fibrous sheet having a thin veneer of the compoundincorporated with it, and placed together. The parts are placed in amold and molded with heat and pressure into the shape shown in Fig. 4,after which the surplusstock is trimmed away, leaving the stiffeningfinished, as in Fig. 1.

In the drawing, a a are the external layers of fibrous material, such asclosely-woven cotton cloth, having connected therewith, as described, athin layer of the rubber compound, and that face of the cloth having therubber attached is placed in contact with the layer of rubber compoundI), rolled into blanks, as above described, and the parts are thenmolded into the form shown in the drawings,

in which 0 is the upright portion of the stiffener, and d the flange.The palm-oil does not dry out, and the stiffener remains more pliable,

tenacious, and elastic, and, owing to its te-l A heel-stiffener composedof an internal nacity, the compound may be made thinner layer formed ofthe materials compounded as and lighter than when linseed-oil andmangaherein described, and of external layers of nese are used,and whenthetar,rosin,orrosinmuslin or closely-woven cotton fabric, all oil areadded, the compound yetremains quite united substantially as described.adhesive. In testimony whereof I have signed my It is not desired tolimit this invention to name to this specification in the presence ofthe exact quantity of rubber, sulphur, and two subscribing witnesses.

palm-oil mentioned, but the proportions stated WM. F. SPIN N EY. arethose which it is considered 'best to em- Witnesses: ploy. S. B. KIDDER,

I elaim-- L. H. LATnmR.

